Sunday, September 26, 2010

Americans are a bunch of Socialist Class Warriors

They just don’t know it. They don’t identify themselves with those labels. But according to this survey, 92% of Americans prefer Sweden’s approach to wealth redistribution over the American philosophy of “if you’re poor it’s your own fault. Die.”

The same survey also shows that most Americans are NOT aware of the huge gap between the richest and poorest; between CEOs and their employees. Most of the respondents guessed that the wealthiest 20% of Americans had 59% of the wealth.

(The correct answer: the wealthiest 20% of Americans control 84% of the wealth.)

When asked what percentage of the country’s wealth should be controlled by the top 20%, the average answer was 32%. And that just happens to be about the percentage of Sweden’s wealth that’s controlled by their wealthiest 20%.

A person’s income level and political viewpoint played no role in this survey. No matter how rich or poor they were, how liberal or conservative, 92% of them agreed that America’s wealth should be distributed more evenly.

Some of our most popular political labels don’t seem to indicate what a person actually thinks. More Americans identify themselves as “conservative” than “liberal.” And terms like “socialism” and “redistribution of wealth” tend to grate on the American psyche like chalk squeaking on a blackboard.

And yet when you strip away all of the images and archetypes that Americans associate with certain phrases — we’re all a bunch of bleeding heart Eurosocialists.

Maybe, just maybe, Democratic strategists could start using market research and focus groups — you know, like Republicans have been doing since the 1970s — and come up with a few slogans that would resonate with the above-mentioned 92%. And then do some TV ads to get those slogans out there to the public.

Every time the Public is informed of this stuff the Rich (through their agents the Conservatives) counter that if we redistribute the wealth, the rich will pack up and leave, take all their jobs and their money and we all be stuck in a bog of poverty.

Erik: So instead, the rich are exporting their jobs overseas anyway, creating phony "headquarters" in Bermuda or the Cayman Islands, and hiding billions of dollars in foreign bank accounts. And yet we're still afraid to raise their taxes or regulate their industries, because "oh my God, they might leave!"

As always, Democrats are supported and funded by the same organizations, the same corporations as the Republicans. Even if they came up with some decent marketing materials, any changes they made while is office would be cosmetic at best.

Erik: If businesses actually believed their own rhetoric about being stifled by government regulations and high taxes, they'd move to the most desolate third world country they could find. In Somalia, meddling bureaucrats would be the least of their worries.

Thomas: That's the problem in a nutshell. Both parties are in a stranglehold from the same powerful interest groups.